Public sitting and association - Kuzasouren

...a form of punishment in which responsibility for a crime is placed not only on the perpetrator himself but also on a certain number of others who have some kind of relationship with the perpetrator as jointly responsible.
[Japan]
The ancient Ritsuryo Code already stipulated that if one of the four-rank officials committed a crime in the course of his duties, the other officials would also be held accountable for their complicity, a rule known as "koza soren." However, the rule of "enza," which extends criminal responsibility not only to the criminal himself but also to a certain range of his relatives, appears in the Gishi Wajinden even earlier, and was enacted in the Ritsuryo Code and the Kamakura Shogunate Law as an important item determining the scope of criminal punishment.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Kozasouren" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…犯罪についての責任を犯人本人だけでなく，犯人となんらかの関係をもつ一定範囲の他人にまで連帯責任として負わせる刑罰の形態。
［日本］
　すでに古代の律令には，四等官の一人に職務上の罪があったとき，他の官吏もこれに連なって従犯の罪に問われることが規定されており，これを〈公坐相連〉といった。ところで，犯人本人だけでなく，犯人の一定範囲の親族にその犯罪責任を及ぼす〈縁坐〉は，より古く《魏志倭人伝》に見え，それが律令や鎌倉幕府法などにおいて，刑罰の対象範囲を決める重要事項として立法されている。…

※「公坐相連」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報